


the hour of change, the border of light

by AdmirableMonster (Mertiya)



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Judaism, Shabbat | Sabbath | Sabt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:23:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27182413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mertiya/pseuds/AdmirableMonster
Summary: It's the fourth Shabbat after Elros disappeared leaving only a brief note behind.  His twin brother and their adoptive parents are preparing for another lonely Friday night.
Relationships: Maedhros | Maitmo & Maglor | Makalaurë & Elrond Peredhel & Elros Tar-Minyatur
Comments: 12
Kudos: 25
Collections: Innumerable Stars 2020





	the hour of change, the border of light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alkarinque](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alkarinque/gifts).



> title from a poem by Leah Goldberg

It had been snowing hard all day; it was snowing even harder now, and the grey skies were growing dark as Shabbat approached.Elrond peeked out the window at the falling snow and wondered shakily, sickly, if Elros was out in it.If he was lost, if he was cold, if he was hungry—

“It’s going to be okay,” Maglor said from behind him.“We’re going to find him.You know that, right?”

Elrond didn’t.He really didn’t.But Maglor believed it, even if Elrond didn’t and Maedhros didn’t either.So he nodded and fought back the tears and went to get out the candles. 

He met Maedhros in the hallway, grimly taking off his hat and stomping snow off his boots.“Papa…?” Elrond said softly, hoping against hope and _knowing_ already there was no news, even before Maedhros shook his head.

“I checked the hospitals again,” he said, as he had said every night for the last month since Elros disappeared, leaving behind only a quick note that said, _Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine_.“I checked around the stores and under some of the bridges.There’s no news from the police?”

“No.”

Maedhros sighed, a little dent appearing in his forehead between his eyes.Unlike his brother, he was not usually very demonstrative with his affections, but Elrond knew—and thought his own twin _must_ have known—how deeply Maedhros loved the two of them.He thought about Maglor giving them cheerful advice before their bar mitzvah; about the way Maedhros hadn’t said anything other than, “Congratulations,” afterwards, but his eyes had been so bright. 

“All right, son, let’s greet the Shabbat,” was all he said now, but he put his hand on Elrond’s shoulder and squeezed gently.

The three of them gathered in the front parlor to sing the Shabbat songs together.Maglor, short and dark, stood on Elrond’s left.Over the past year or two, Elrond and Elros had starting growing terribly quickly and they had both overtaken Maglor easily.Maedhros, at 6’4’’, was still much taller than either of them.

The third song they sang every week was Lecha Dodi, which had always been the twins’ favorite.The tune was almost urgent, but the song itself was joyful, more like a race to the finish line—a race to welcome the Shabbat.The four—the three of them, now—always turned to the door and stamped their feet, and Elrond always moved with the music, wrapped up in it like a comfortable, warm blanket, with Maglor’s steady voice soaring and leading and anchoring them.Elrond could keep in tune with him easily; Maedhros and Elros didn’t really tend to manage much of a tune at all.

When he was little, Elrond thought that if he stared very hard at the door, maybe he would be fast enough to see the bride entering, and even now, at sixteen, he hadn’t quite lost his tendency to laser focus on it as they came rapidly into the last verse of the song. 

As he opened his mouth to sing the final note, it opened.

For an instant the figure in the doorway was backlit against the streetlights outside, a curly-headed blank black shadow with the odd suggestion of wings and perhaps a veil.Then it came forward into the dim hallway lights, and diminished, and it was Elros.

Elrond and Maglor yelped simultaneously and dove for him.“Where have you _been_ , we were worried _sick,_ we couldn’t find you, are you _hurt_ —”

“I told you not to worry!” Elros said indignantly, running a hand through his hair and shaking the snow off on the mat. 

“Right, because leaving a note telling us not to worry and then _vanishing for a month_ is so conducive to us not worrying!” Elrond retorted incredulously.

“I told you where I was going!”

“You did _not_!”

Elros’s eyes fixed on his twin’s face.“But you—must have been a lot more half-asleep than I thought you were when I told you.I’m sorry.”

When he said that, it did bring to mind something that Elrond had thought was a half-formed dream—Elros’s face in his doorway, Elros’s voice saying something soothing and quiet, but he couldn’t make out the words.It had gone out of his head in the panic when he woke up the next morning.

“Papa,” Elros said awkwardly, after a moment.He had an arm slung around Elrond and one around Maglor and now he was looking beyond them, to where Maedhros still stood in the center of the living room, his arms loose at his sides, his face open and blank and maybe a little shocky.“I…I went to find our bio-mom and bio-dad,” he said after a moment.“Didn’t think Elrond wanted to come.”

No, he wouldn’t have.It had always been Elros who wanted to know more about whoever had given birth to the twins.Elrond frankly hadn’t really been curious.He loved his dads, and that was more than enough for him.But he knew Elros wanted to, and he would have supported him in that desire; it stung, a little, to think Elros maybe hadn’t realized that.It made sense, though, why Elros would sneak off in the middle of the night that way.He never talked about this with Maglor and Maedhros; only very occasionally with Elrond.He didn’t want to hurt them, perhaps: Elrond didn’t know for certain, but it was what he suspected.

Maedhros still stood in the center of the living room.Then he spoke, his voice hoarse and a little forced.“Did you find them?” he asked after a minute.

“Yeah,” Elros said, shoving both his hands into his jeans pockets and ducking his head a little.“They’re nice, actually.They want—to meet Elrond, too.And—” he scuffed his foot at the carpet.“And both of you,” he added in a wavering voice.

“Why didn’t you _ask_ us?” Maglor demanded.“We could have helped, you wouldn’t—you scared us!”But he was already moving around, pulling off Elros’s wet coat and bundling him up in the nearest blanket.

“I just…” Elros sighed.“I don’t know,” he said, finally.“I’m sorry.For scaring you.”His voice wavering even more, he continued, “Papa—are you angry with me?”

Elrond stepped to the side as Maedhros moved suddenly, his long legs covering the distance in one or two steps as he took Elros in his arms.“I am _furious_ ,” he said in a low voice.“For leaving us like that without telling us where you were going.Maglor has cried himself to sleep every night for the past month.But I’m not angry that you wanted to find your biological parents, Elros.I would never be angry with you for that.”

“I’m sorry,” Elros sniffed again.“I didn’t know how to _ask_ , and I thought Elrond would tell you where I was, and I just—I’m sorry.I’m so sorry.”

“Let’s go light the candles,” Maglor suggested gently.Then he drew the twins and Maedhros together for a tight hug.“We have a lot to be grateful for this Shabbat.”

“Don’t you ever do that again,” Elrond told his brother.“You idiot.”

“I promise,” Elros said.He rested his head gingerly on Maedhros’s arm, and Maedhros tightened the hug around all of them.

Outside, the shadows lengthened on the ground as Shabbat crept onwards.Inside, the warm lights glowed in the windows and four voices were raised in happy—if not entirely tuneful—song.


End file.
